Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Can You Train After Getting Sick?

By Tyron Thompson


The flu can keep you away from your exercise program for weeks. You're likely eager to get into it, but there are some good reasons why you should not jump back into your routine full-force as quickly as you're feeling better. While exercise is generally good for the immunological reaction, intense workouts essentially suppress it. Your post-sickness body is fighting to recover strength and immunological regularity , pushing yourself hard immediately can really lengthen your recovery.

It is wise to wait 3 or a few days after you're feeling better to start working out again , anything beyond a walk may be too much to handle in this time. Waiting a few days will give your immunological system time to rest and recover.

Now you are feeling better and 1 or 2 buffer days have gone by. Whether you're returning to the gym or resuming a home exercise regimen, resistance training or cardiovascular coaching, it is important to remember that you've been out of the game for a bit. Even a week off from exercising could cause muscle loss and aerobic fitness decline. A paper titled "The Management of Low Back Trouble : A Complete Rehabilitation Program," by Joel Press, MD, and Susan and Brad Sorosky, MDs, reports that muscle strength decreases by 1-3% each day of bed rest and that aerobic fitness level declines by 25 percent over a 3-week period of bed rest. This paper can be discovered in PDF format on the internet.

Your fervour to get back to where you were pre-sickness should be tempered by the awareness that this goal will take longer to achieve if you push yourself too hard initially. You risk injury or severe delayed onset muscle soreness if you overtax your weakened muscles the 1st day back, both of which would put you off your routine for days or possibly, in the event of injury, weeks to come. Pushing to hard could also weaken your freshly-reconstituted immune reaction and increase the probability of becoming sick again ( remember, there are many hundreds of different viruses that cause colds and flues ).

How much is too much? A good rule of thumb is to halve your normal routine in every way for the 1st week or 2. Exercise half as often, half as intensely and half so long as usual. You are reintroducing your body to the rigors of exercise, and this is best done slowly. Increase the length, frequency and intensity of work-outs gradually. Take the following scenario as an example. Your regular routine involves 4 to five days a week of half-hour sessions.

You typically do 15 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity cardio ( such as jogging ) and fifteen minutes of strength building ( weight reps, core exercises etc . ). After being sick, try 2 15-minute sessions the 1st week back, doing 7.5 minutes of low- to moderate-intensity cardiovascular ( like brisk walking ) and 7.5 minutes of strength drilling with half your usual number of reps per exercise. If at any point you are feeling very exhausted, short of breath or dizzy, stop and rest a couple more days.

You will get back to where you were before getting sick if you approach your return to exercise cautiously. Give your body the rest it needs before exerting yourself after having the flu and reintroduce your body to exercise slowly.




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